Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics - Tapa blanda

Acerca del autor

Jean-Pierre Changeux is Director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and Professor at the Collège de France. Alain Connes, winner of the 1982 Fields Medal, is Professor of Mathematics at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette and Professor at the Collège de France.

De la contraportada

"This wonderfully eloquent and playful colloquy of two brilliant minds gives new life to the old notion of Dialogue, a sadly forgotten form now.... I love this book!"--Oliver Sacks, M.D

"English-speaking readers can now benefit from the philosophical insights of two outstanding intellects--each a leader in his own field, each bringing his own distinctive perspective to deep and challenging issues. Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics is fascinating."--Roger Penrose

"It is a privilege to be permitted to eavesdrop on this fascinating conversation between two gifted individuals: a conversation that is remarkable for its erudition and that puts some very old questions into a very modern context."--Leon Cooper, Nobel Laureate in Physics

"This book is a superb guide to the philosophical ambiguities and contradictions that lie beneath the surface of science. Looking at the world as though 'through a glass darkly,' Changeux and Connes wind up seeing apparently irreconcilable realities. Their debate is likely to become a classic."--David Ruelle, Institut des Hautes études Scientifiques, Paris

"The concluding remarks on ethics, setting out the credo of the neuroscientist, are the highpoints of a quite remarkable book. I do not think this has ever been done in quite the same way. A brilliant performance."--Vernon B. Mountcastle, Johns Hopkins University

"This is not so much a book as a journey. Like all journeys, it is stimulating, widens one's horizons, and leaves one wishing one could stay longer. The reader is treated to an inside look at the workings of two great minds, and is privileged to enjoy their reflections on an unusually wide range of topics. This is not a book that narrowly focuses on mathematics or neuroscience; it is a set of deep insights and provocative speculations about the nature of reality and what we can know about it."--Stephen M. Kosslyn, Harvard University

"There are so many 'points of intellectual light' within the framework of this magnificent book that one should take the opportunity to study each page with as much care as one would exercise in viewing a beautiful piece of crystal or examining a fine painting. The authors truly probe the very limits of human understanding. . . . "--Robert J. White, M.D., Ph.D., Commonweal

"Two leading giants face off: the biologist Jean-Pierre Changeux, leading neuroscientist and author of Neuronal Man, and the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, eminent apostle of phenomenology and author of Living Metaphors. The two develop...a true exchange of ideas, breaking with the preemptory affirmations and unilateral critiques which have too often characterized relations between science and philosophy."--Gérard Badu, Le Nouvel Observateur

"The materialist neurobiologist and the philosopher establish a no-holds-barred dialogue, which has resulted in a captivating book: often demanding, but always free of jargon. This exceptional initiative should be a milestone in the history of ideas."--Jean-Claude Escaffit, La Vie

"A rich dialogue, insofar as the two men belong to divergent currents of thought. . .neither a sham exchange of blows nor an intellectual compromise on either side. . .This exchange constitutes the most successful exercise of its type. . .it throws the perspectives right open."--Yves Christen, Nouveuté